A plan to exhume some 200 graves, including that of a Belgium nun, in the grounds of the Church of Saint Francis Xavier in Penang drew criticism yesterday from former students who joined a heritage group in opposing the move.

Reverend Anthony Selvanayagam, Bishop of Penang, who has been defending the move, said earlier this week that 204 graves would be exhumed for reburial within the same compound to make room for a playground.

But Joan Shori, spokesperson for the Alumni Convent Light Streettold AFP that the grave of Mother Pauline Marie Rodot, from Belgium who is the founder of convent school, was among the graves to be exhumed.

"We are very upset," Shori said. "It is not right. To me it is desecration of the graves. Today it may be for just a playground. Tomorrow who knows ..."

Rodot from Antwerp founded the Convent Light Street School in 1851 and died the following year. The convent was the first girls' school in Malaysia and Singapore.

Exhumation shows disrespect

ACLS in a statement said several other graves of nuns were marked for exhumation.

It said the nuns' contribution to the development of women's education in Malaysia was enormous, and that the hardship they endured could be gauged from the fact that most of them died young.

"It would be extremely churlish of us to begrudge them the small plot, so far from the countries of their birth, that is their final resting place. Please allow them to rest in peace and dignity," it said.

The Penang Heritage Alert Group on Tuesday said the exhumation showed disrespect for the dead.

The Catholic Church, which owns the land, is awaiting permission from the Penang Island Municipal Council to convert the land where the graves are located into a playground. - AFP